Natural background levels of primary biogenic amines in water samples from lakes and rivers around Stoke-on-Trent

Searching for victims of crime who have been buried in hidden (clandestine) graves or dumped into water courses currently utilises a number of techniques such as victim recovery dogs or ground penetrating radar. The development of chemical techniques would offer further assistance in body location and previous research has shown that primary biogenic amines are potential chemical markers of decomposition. There is a paucity of information about the natural abundance of the primary biogenic amines cadaverine, methylamine and putrescine in different water courses and an understanding of this natural abundance would allow for more accurate detection.

This work aimed to chemically detect the natural background levels of primary biogenic amines (cadaverine, methylamine, and putrescine) in water samples taken from canals, lakes and rivers around Stoke-on-Trent (UK), These amines were quantified using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS).

Water samples from the Hanley Park in Stoke-on-Trent were examined. In Hanley Park, there is a lake fed by a canal. It was determined that 0.002 mM putrescine was present in the analysed water samples from the park; cadaverine could not be detected. For comparison, in previously analysed leachate samples of buried porcine material with a post-burial interval of 350 days, putrescine had a concentration of 0.374 mM and cadaverine had a concentration of 0.323 mM. These data suggest that background levels of key bioamines are much lower than those found from buried material and it expected that this will be the scenario for bodies found in water.